10 Things Percy Weasley is Ashamed of

1. He remembers when he stopped calling his parents 'mummy' and 'daddy', prematurely switching to 'mother' and 'father' at the age of nine. Sometimes he wishes he could call them 'mummy' and 'daddy' again. But he doesn't want to look like a fool.

2. He'd been written off as 'just another Weasley' before he'd made it halfway to the Gryffindor table his first year and within twenty-four hours intimate aspects of his home-life had been insulted by people who he'd never even met. He'd been told that he came from the worst stock imaginable: purebloods that'd fallen, into poverty, into bad jokes. He'd been angry with his parents for not telling him what they were, what he was. From that day on he'd swore to himself that he wouldn't become 'just another Weasley.'

Maybe he wouldn't even bother being a 'Weasley' at all.

3. He'd kept his relationship with Penelope private from his family because he hadn't wanted them to contaminate it with their homemade clothes and unrestrained casual joviality. He'd been determined that he and Penelope would be crystal and caviar people, no exceptions.

4. So eager and so ready he'd been to ascend the rank of importance at the Ministry that he hadn't been concerned with Mr. Crouch's well-being and he'd gladly ignored his boss's deteriorating condition knowing full well that would put him in a prime position for promotion.

5. After he'd slammed the door of his new London flat in his mother's face he'd waited to hear the sound of her sobbing before turning away.

6. When his father had been wavering in the grey zone between life and death Percy had not been at his bedside, he'd not even offered so much as a card. He'd been in his office at the Ministry, rocking back and forth in his chair, editing reports, and wondering if he'd finally crossed the line in punishing his family, and whether or not he could ever go back.

7. Penelope had left him a few days before Christmas Eve after a fight had erupted when Percy had received his annual Christmas jumper from his mum. He'd immediately scoffed and insulted it before starting to return it. The last thing Penelope had said to him before exiting his life forever was: "If your own family isn't good enough for you, than why am I?"

8. At family gatherings he is always careful to keep a certain distance from George. It is apparent to Percy that his brother is suffering but he doesn't want to hear the details of the pain. He is afraid to confront the bitter depression echoing in George's eyes. So instead of giving George attention, he gives him exaggerated smiles from across the room.

9. Aside from his parents and the healers who'd delivered him, no one had truly seen him naked until Audrey had come along, inconspicuous and pleasant. Before he'd known it (and without asking) she'd looked upon his naked adult body in the daylight, unobstructed by clothes, blankets, or shadows.

(Even though he loves her) he still resents her for that moment.

10. It had been Fred, not his parents, not Charlie not Bill, but Fred, the brother he'd always hated the most, to be the first to greet him as he ran to find some sort of salvation among the crossfire of curses and the rumble of rubble that surrounded him as his world fell. He'd feared Fred would reject him, no matter what he said... But before he knew it he'd been alongside his brother, sharing a camaraderie he'd always yearned for…then before he knew it, it was gone, and so was Fred.

And the only thing that remained with Percy was the cold black fact that for so much of his life he'd wished ill of the crumpled boy beside him.

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A/N: sorry for the long wait guys, but sometimes real life gets in the way, don't you know?